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What do I do to get the bees to draw more comb and store food for the winter? So far I have tried 1:1, 2:1 sugar to water (by volume), and fondant. The end comb is small and never anything stored in it. I see a lot of pollen comming in. If they don't get to more than just a brood nest they for sure won't make it thru the winter.

Gary
This spring I fed my top bar girls on HFCS (high fructose corn syrup) with the top bar feeders I built for about 6 weeks. From what I have read, you could start feeding them now and if they need it they will take it. Not sure of the ratio to use of sugar syrup.

If you go to my website pics and look carefully you can see some pictures of the feeder, as well as my intial construction of my top bars last spring. http://f2.pg.photos.yahoo.com/ph/dn4911/my_photos
I got the plans off the internet somewhere, it is bees for development or something. It is from the Africans. Very quick and easy to make, just take a top bar and use as the top... If you can't find it let me konw and I can try to find it again.

They don't store anything in my end combs either until it is drawn out all the way. Are there any stores at all?

[This message has been edited by BerkeyDavid (edited August 26, 2004).]

If they need the space they will fill it with comb. If they need a place to put nectar/syrup they will build comb. If the brood nest has room or the supers have room they will store it rather than draw comb. Bees only draw comb when they need it.

Michael,
I may be wrong but I don't think they have enough stores to get thru winter. They have 10 bars drawn out in decending size as you reach each end with the last ones being 6 inches long at the bar. Most of this is brood nest. I was thinking of building bars with a wire mesh cage and stuffing it with fondant. Will water be a problem, do they need water to break down fondant. Both hives have the same problem so combining won't work.